At first listen, I didn’t think this subject warranted a post. I know that in writing something, I’m falling into a trap placed by Larry Krueger — which is sort of like giving up a hit to Santiago Casilla.
Krueger and his partner, Gary Radnich, want people to talk about their show (even negatively). So I was going to ignore Krueger’s comments about bloggers, but after being asked on Twitter, the BASG comments and in the press box on Monday night whether I was the blogger Krueger was referring to in his rant, I felt I should probably respond.
—
I flipped the radio on at some point on Monday morning, and Krueger was talking to Radnich about the 49ers game, making fun of the reporters who laughed loudly at Jim Harbaugh’s “$2 steak” remark, and suddenly Krueger launched into a comedy routine about bloggers in the Candlestick Park press box.
I don’t have the exact quotes because KNBR doesn’t podcast non-interview segments from “THE GARY RADNICH SHOW (with larry krueger).” What I remember is Krueger mentioning how many hot dogs some of these bloggers (Don’t forget the disdainful tone!) were eating. Bloggers who write for audiences of only seven readers, according to Krueger.
—
Krueger talks on the radio for a living, and enough people like to listen to him talk about sports for KNBR to hire him a second time after firing him in 2005. Think about how many people you know who got fired and rehired by the same employer. Right now all I can come up with are Krueger and some New York Yankees managers in the ’70s and ’80s. One of the reasons why Krueger is back with KNBR after making derogatory comments about “brain-dead Caribbean hitters” is he’ll do whatever they ask. Head to Palo Alto and talk for a couple hours about David Shaw and Chase Thomas on a Saturday? Sure. 49ers pre and post the next day? You got it, Mr. Bungeroth.
—
The 49ers provide free food in the press box. That makes them unique in the Bay Area, at least in terms of the professional teams. Stanford provides an area with salad and sandwich fixings during their football games. College of San Mateo not only has one of the best views in the Bay Area from its press box, they also have sandwiches and cookies free of charge. The Giants and Warriors provide food, but you have to pay. High school football games don’t provide food (or even press boxes, in most cases), but every once in a while you can get something pretty good from the snack shack.
But back to the Niners.
At halftime, if you go up a few stairs to the food area and wait in line for a few minutes, you can set fire to your stomach and arteries with a build-your-own-nachos area, as well as a never-ending supply of chili and hot dogs. Since I knew I’d be at the park for at least three or four more hours, I went up there and put a hot dog on one side of my plate and filled the other half with some nachos.
Good, nourishing food? Not in the slightest. However, after watching everyone in the parking lot and the stands inhale everything in sight, including copious amounts of alcohol, it’s hard to feel too guilty about a hot dog and some nachos. I don’t eat hot dogs really often anyway; besides the occasional trip to In-N-Out Burger I’ve been a pretty healthy eater over the past few years.
—
I only saw Krueger once in the press box, and not in the food line. I’m pretty sure he has no idea who I am, although he does follow me on Twitter (at least he’s following me as I write this post … we’ll see how long that lasts). I also saw Krueger among the many waiting by the 49ers’ locker room after the game, before Harbaugh spoke. I was not eating a hot dog while we waited for Harbaugh to step to the podium.
—
So where are these comments coming from? I’m not totally sure, but I have some ideas.
1. Krueger was catering to the most important person in his audience: Radnich. It’s rare that Krueger can talk about something for more than 5-10 seconds before getting interrupted; Krueger may have figured that making fun of two of Radnich’s favorite targets — bloggers and media freeloaders — would make the big guy happy. Interestingly, Radnich mostly stayed above the fray as Krueger ripped small-time bloggers with huge appetites.
2. There were dozens of people in the press box (far more than at your average San Francisco Giants game), so there’s a chance that he saw someone that he knew was a blogger, eating tons of hot dogs. And who knows, perhaps Krueger has access to traffic stats for every Bay Area blog. If so, he surely noticed that posts about the silly things radio hosts say totally kill on BASG.
3. Krueger has a well known obsession with wieners. Remember back in February when the KNBR host made fun of scribes with hot dogs stuck in their back pockets, asking Pablo Sandoval questions about his weight? Henry Schulman surely does.
4. Perhaps Krueger actually ate multiple hot dogs himself, and secretly writes a blog read only by his immediate family while they’re all sitting together on their Consignment Center couch (or maybe while they’re in their new hot tub, having a relaxing soak).
5. After getting absolutely obliterated by Will Leitch back in 2005 (First sentence: “For those who don’t know him, Larry Krueger —who was finally fired last night — is a motormouthed, somewhat annoying late-night talk host on the San Francisco Giants flagship radio station, KNBR-680.”), Krueger may hate bloggers as much or even more than Radnich appears to. It’s one thing to get bashed by Rich Lieberman once or twice a week; Deadspin is a national powerhouse that influences the opinions of sports fans (and radio station program directors, at least the ones who use the internet).
In conclusion, it’s hard to get too upset over comments made by a guy that (1) was previously fired for comments he made that were actually worth worrying about and (2) repeatedly called for the Giants to acquire Jorge Posada during the latter half of 2011. I just wanted to set the record straight — I will not be threatening Joey Chestnut’s reign at Coney Island anytime soon.














49ers Hot Read
49ersnews.com
49erswebzone.com
Niner Insider
Athletics Nation
95.7 FM The Game
Bay Area Sports Talk
Popblerd
Ray Ratto – CSNBA
Ruthless Sports
Giants Extra
Giants Talk
Giants365.com
GiantsPod
Optioned to Fresno
Fangraphs
Pro Football Talk
Feltbot's Warriors Blog
Joe Lacob & Co. [libelous slander]
WarriorsCentral.com

Indeed, I can't believe Krueger was back on the hot dog riff again. Krueger was also trying to make the case that only compensated journalists are capable of providing any insight on sports, and even Radnich backed away from those comments somewhat. It's almost as if Krueger had read the comments here @ BASG & decided to "strike back". But I don't actually think Krueger is talking about anyone specifically, I believe he just mistakenly feels that the bit is funny & makes him look good - and he really must be super-defensive about his current status at KNBR. If Krueger is truly that upset about these perceived abuses of journalistic perks, he should address his concerns directly to Giants management & just stop the lame bit already.
And Kruger is ripping the blog guys once again for free food and participating in the Giants celebration.
A quick word about Damon Bruce: I don't believe being aired in small markets like Modesto or Stockton actually constitutes being "syndicated". Being aired in cities like NYC, L.A., Toronto & Houston would fit the term a little more. But until Jim Rome decides to retire & name Bruce as his replacement, that's not going to happen.
haha. My bad. I'm sorry Stan
I forget, what was it that Kruger said that was wrong again?
About 6-8 yrs ago, he was lamenting a group of Latin Giants players who were '"free swingers" (i.e swinging at pitches out of the strike zone and often striking out ) and the team was losing games. And he said, and I'm paraphrasing : "The Giants hitters are a bunch of brain dead Caribbeans hacking at slop nightly" And then manager Alou went nuts and complained to Sabean McGowan and they crapped all over KNBR etc
He called the Giants hitters that they had in 2005 as "braindead Caribbean hitters" and that Felipe Alou had a mind made of Cream of Wheat. Krueger was definitely wrong in what he said, but he apologized. He even went to Alou and apologized. He basically did everything he could do to apologize for what he said, and take it back. Alou, the Giants,and KNBR kind of overreacted. Alou called Krueger Satan. That was harsh, but Alou was upset. Shortly after that Krueger et. al (Townsend and I think Tony Salvadore as well) were fired. Krueger was the main culprit though. I still don't understand why KNBR let Townsend go back then. But yeah, this was pretty much the reason why Krueger was fired back in 2005. Like I said, Krueger was definitely wrong in what he said, but as some people have said, what he said was taken out of context, and it was if you think about it. He wasn't saying that Caribbean's were braindead, which is kind of what Alou, the Giants, and KNBR to some extent, made it seem like. He was saying that the hitters the Giants had back then were braindead. If you remember, the hitters the Giants had in 2005 were awful. That was the season Bonds missed most of that season, and the Giants couldn't really score runs consistently, even though Moises Alou helped carry the offense. He should've said something like "these terrible hitters" or "what is the batting coach teaching these hitters?" or something like that. What Krueger said about FelipeAlou was over the top and out of line though. Alou is still held in high regard in Giants circles, and he's a smart man. Yeah, Alou made some bad decisions when he was the manager here with the Giants, especially in the lean years of the Giants when they were struggling when he was here such as the 2005 and 2006 seasons, and the 2004 season to some extent even though they won 90 games that season. But yeah, Krueger basically saying that Felipe Alou was stupid or whatever other adjective you want to put there, was over the top. I'm by no means defending what Krueger said and I think Krueger was wrong for what he said, but it was taken out of context though. Felipe Alou, the Giants, and KNBR should've heard him out and not take as tough of a stance after he apologized. Maybe suspend him for a week or two, but don't fire the guy. Like Gary always says, Krueger had a young family at the time. He was out of a job just like that. But yeah, on Krueger's end, Krueger should've thought about what he said in that rant, and Felipe Alou, the Giants, and KNBR should've heard Krueger out on what he said after he apologized and just put it behind them, even though it might've been awkward at the time if KNBR would've kept him on.
Hey Otis, just have to correct you on who got fired. It was P.D. Bob Agnew, Krueger and producer Tony Rhein. (sp)
Watch that slander Otis!..you almost had me hating on Townsend. Good thing I refrained as something didn't seem right. Make note...Chris not on S list...
Oh ok, thanks for the correction! I think like Krueger, Tony Rhein is back at KNBR. He's the voiceover guy with the deep voice for some of the KNBR commercials. I think Gary had him on for a couple of minutes on his show, a while back. I remember Townsend being let go around that time too. I guess it wasn't for the Krueger thing? Maybe it was for something else I guess. I thought Townsend was good on KNBR, from what I remember of him when he was there. It's kind of too bad he never got his own show on KNBR. I think if he was still on KNBR now, he would be good, even though he's not bad on 95.7.
Was Townsend part of that? Sad to hear that..I wasn't a sports radio listener back then..just heard about the hoolah on the news. And to think Chris seems to be ok..if Beane dislikes him,how bad can he be?..I thought. But Raddy does give Townsend a kick every now and then..I have to wonder if he puts Kreuger's fiasco onto Chris?
I guess Townsend wasn't. I do remember him saying on 95.7 that he was part of a messy divorce on KNBR, and I guess I assumed he was part of the group who was fired in 2005 along with Krueger. But yes, I guess he wasn't. I still don't know why KNBR got rid of Townsend though. It was like one day you heard him on that terrible John London "Not Just Sports Show", and then you never heard him on KNBR again, when they changed the morning show and had Brian Murphy with I think his name is Tim Liotta on. Then they eventually switched Tim Liotta with Paulie Mac, I think. But yeah, it was weird how Townsend was gone from KNBR and no one really knows why. At least I don't.
Otis - I AM defending Kruegar. It's SPORTS TALK fer chrissakes ... let a guy rant .... it provokes arguments, opinions ... that's what it's all about If it was white players/manager and he said "They're a bunch of trailer trash hillbillies hacking at slop nightly, and Bochy's brain is Velveeta", nobody woulda said a peep.
Doesn't matter. All BASG needs to do is post a tweet that his wifie is younger and hotter then Larry's. Then,it don't matter how many hot dogs he eats.
Larry Krueger will say and do anything that Gary Radnich ask of him. After all Larry Krueger owes his life to Gary Radnich. Krueger knows how to obey himself at KNBR. But who wouldn't? After a humiliating firing,a firing that was well chronicled by the Latino TV stations. In particular Channel 48 in San Jose. Krueger you are no friend of Channel 48.
Kruegar and Radnich have a perfect symbiotic relationship; Gary throws Larry a life raft, getting back on the air at 680, and in return Gary gets to lord over him, take the occasional cheap shot just so the audience knows who's in charge, and Larry laughs it off like Ed McMahon. And in my opinion the formula works; it is an entertaining show. Just enough silly and just enough hard core sports.
Yeah, Kate Scott is pretty good, and she has pretty good sports knowledge overall. She actually did a good job last year when she filled in a little bit I think around Thanksgiving and Christmas. As far as her role on Gary's show, as well as the Murph and Mac show, she is kind of underutilized, as I mentioned before.
I have freinds/associates in my business life that I know and like and respect are gay and they know I know they're gay ... but it's never discussed because NOBODY CARES ... just like I don't get real specific with my hetero friends about exactly what they like between the sheets because talking about that makes me squirm ... AGAIN it's my peet peeve OK, I'll get off my soapbox now
..And looks like it will need shaving before you do too!
Radnich is one of my favorite media personalities of all time, and still I can barely take listening to that show these days. Between Larry the Sports Genius and Kate "Twitter Twitter oh did I mention Twitter" Scott its just so dull these days.
Agree with the Raddy and Larry parts, disagree on the Kate part, when she has more air-time - there's way more than the ordered twitter stuff, she's the designated high tech person for Raddy.
This is a real pet peeve of mine, but 25 minutes into her first day on the air, Kate Scott HAD to let everybody know she's gay ... what does that have to do with sports ? Classic Bay Area Liberal PC horseshit. Kate has a great voice, a pretty good sense of humor; but I cant get past the fact that KNBR is constantly patting itself on the back for having a gay woman doing sports radio. Like that counts for something. How about instead having someone on the air who's good at sports talk ?
WHAT was the context? You explain nothing. Also...I hated that the interview with former 49er tight end Brent Jones started with a fundraiser for Paul Ryan,4 mill for a "breakfast".(mine are 3$ at Applbys) and a endorsement for the Republican party. As I type? How Krueger just showed up at the former 49ers fundraiser that same day. I doubt that means Kreuger overcame his liberal leanings..right? More reason to hate the guy BASG!
I think that makes Obama one of the only five people in the country who know who the current WNBA champ is.
The fact that Obama invited the WNBA to the White House, tells me all I need to know about the guy. Please pass the milk.
I don't think liberals or anyone else want to be affiliated with Stan.
So you object to Brent Jones' affiliation with Paul Ryan, but you get to praise Obama ? Classic Liberal double-standard
8 more years of Obama!-lol,once we lib's pass that law..
And praise Obama!..he invited to the White House the WNBA's champs. What a great man to treat woman's accomplishments as equals to men's. George Bush would NEVER have done that.
BACK AT YA! And,I win!
Agree Slam. Kate we love you, but please keep your personal life to yourself. Sometimes Kate, less is better.
Way to own up that it's your pet peeve - not neccesarily a many held belief or truth. Respect you being responsible.
Kruegar is entertaining to me; I like him. And I thought his "braindead Carribean players hacking at slop nightly" or however that infamous phrase went, was insightful, correct, and stupid; I wasn't suprised when it got him fired. I'm intruiged that KNBR brought him back, particularly with Radnich. I think it was a reaction to The Drive. You can't have 3 hours of Gary talking about Frankie Beverly, kids Ballet, and Halle Berry, so having Larry talking about WAR and slugging percentages balances the show out. Gary has been gracious about it, at least publicly, but I don't think he like a partner who knows more than him about sports. So Larry blasts "bloggers" for eating all the free food ? As Gary would say, "Nobody cares"
Naw, it was a perfect storm - game coming to town, Bruno=out, Bruce was the choice and totally blowing it - what a bufoon - his ego could not appreciate the plum he got, or the 50,000 watts,.... Larry was hungry, they did want Raddy to go more hard on sports - voila - both wanted it to work and, by general sports radio statndards, it does. dBruce wanted instant top-dog-overthrow-king of KNBR and is now on lower wattage and has exclusive market in points east of Bay Area - no Rome gis of late, either? .....though, I still stand by my prediction, he will be eventually in the drive-time slot on the flame-thrower.
D Bruce is a fricking genius; he agrees to go to the poor step sister station, and he gets to stretch out and say pretty much whatever he wants...and he's KILLING those two bozos at 680 during the same time slot. For me ( and not everyone ), he's the king
Yeah, I agree. Damon did blow his chance to be back on 680. In a sense, maybe Damon's ego got big because Gary's show is simulcasted on TV. He did waste an opportunity though, and it's too bad that his ego and Gary's ego, kind of got in the way of what probably could've been a good show, if things would've worked out. The thing is, they are both so different though as we all know. Gary doesn't take sports as seriously and probably would rather talk about entertainment, while Damon is a diehard sports fan, and he usually keeps his shows on topic with sports. It's kind of too bad that Damon and Gary when they co-hosted together for that short amount of time last year, couldn't agree on what parts/segments of Damon's 1050 show to add to Gary's show (Tuesday Trifecta, some of the regular callers that call in, etc.), and what elements of Gary's show to keep on the show, so that things would've flowed better between the two of them when they co-hosted together. It's kind of funny/sad how they still can't really stand each other now. I wonder if they even talk to each other, if they ever see each other at KNBR. As far as the Rome thing, Damon filled in for him once last month, and I think once earlier this month too. Damon probably won't get that national gig right now, but him being syndicated to the Stockton/Modesto area could be a start to bigger things for his show. It's still the best show on KNBR. As far as your prediction goes, that would be cool, and if that's his chance to go back to 680, hopefully he wouldn't mess it up but, I think they will stay with Tom and Byrnes/Ratto for now. Plus, it seems like Damon is comfortable with the Noon to 3 spot with his syndicated show on 1050. Everything is going well with it right now. Also, if Damon moved to 680 from 3-7 PM, where would Tom and Byrnes/Ratto go? I'm not sure if they would be ok with being on 1050 from Noon to 3, competing with Fitz and Brooks,
Oh ok, my bad..... I think if Damon moved to the 3-7 PM timeslot to co-host with Tom, that probably could work, since Tom seems like an easy going guy and not hard to work with. I think they would find ways to make things work. The only thing is, would Tom's off topic non-spots segments mesh well with Damon and how he likes to keep his shows all sports, if they were to ever work together? I'm not sure if it would go as well if Damon co-hosted with Byrnes though. Damon respects Byrnes, but I don't think it would mesh well if they worked together. They're both different. I don't think it would be a Damon-Gary situation, but I just don't think it would work. They should probably keep Byrnes with Tom right now.... BTW, can KNBR just make it official with Byrnes being Tom's new co-host? Yeah, they're probably still in the try out process, but Byrnes never really hosts Sportsphone anymore and he pretty much co-hosts with Tom a lot of the time now. They both have good chemistry and they both can give you a players perspective on things. If Damon ever does co-host with anyone again for a regular weekday show, it really should be Krueger. Damon even said if he had to co-host with someone on KNBR, it would be Krueger. I think Damon said this last year, but I'm sure he still feels that way. They both work well together, and they did a good job on 49er postgame last year. It's still a shame they moved Damon to 49er pregame, but oh well. At least they get to still work together doing 49er pregame. But yes, they both work well together, and they both have that same passion for sports. They had a good discussion yesterday, when Krueger came on Damon's show for a few minutes. But yeah, that would be interesting if KNBR eventually decides to move Damon to 680 in the 3-7 PM timeslot. If this ever happens, I'll give you props for calling it.
Hey Otis; the prediction is bruce with Tolbert, or if Tolbert ever leaves, bruce and Byrnes.
"but I don’t think he like a partner who knows more than him about sports." I think its more like, Gary doesn't like someone who thinks they know so much about sports, because really, despite all the predictions and arguments, nobody knows what's going to happen. "Just say 'I don't know' once in a while" is one of his favorite lines.
Yeah, I think Krueger is OK. He's kind of a big mouth, which isn't that unusual for sports talk radio. He and Radnich work pretty well together. For me right now, the weakest spot in the KNBR lineup is Fitz and Brooks. Brooks' on-air persona as exaggerated super cool cat is insufferable, at least for me. Fitz, we all know about and he's even worse on talk radio than doing basketball. Tom is really solid. He's smart about sports. Seems like they haven't found a good partner for him yet. Ray Ratto, not bad. Eric Burns is Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
ReggieWrite, regarding Byrnes. I knew Spicoli in high school. I was friends with Spicoli (and was Spicoli). Eric Byrnes is no Jeff Spicoli... Otherwise agree with your assessment of the line up at KNBR.
I ate a hot dog tonight and I am a blogger does that mean I have carte blanche to write about sports too? Before you answer that my hot dog is Pat Burrell ...ok wait my snark button was on... Seriously, anybody check the Google Analytics lately...BASG 1 Larry 0... I don't want to write about sports because BASG does a fine job of that ...and he is really good at the analytical stuff too about radio. Snark button...off
Wasted my time reading this post... Part 2, breaking down your tweeter war?
I know this has nothing to do with the topic, but since we are talking about Krueger, and I think I asked this before but, should they do away with the rumor segment? They don't really have any real serious/breaking news rumors, Gary doesn't really take it seriously since he takes too long in his answers, Eamon (sp?) Sweeney is kind of the wrong guy to ask the questions since he's not really an upbeat guy. It looks like they went from 3 rumors to 2 rumors each day for the rumors segment. It kind of somewhat seems like a waste of time, and they should just do away with it. Anyone agree?
I like the concept of the segment, but Radnich brays like a jackass over any cogent thoughts. He tries to hijack the show with "Basketball Wives" stuff and laughs if Larry has any extraneous sports knowledge (on a sports show? means he studies Gary). of course Larry tries to take on " Rad Meat subjects!
"I like the concept of the segment, but Radnich brays like a jackass over any cogent thoughts" Amen. The show loses so much continuity because of Radnich's numbskull references to some TV program. Gary do you ever read the newspaper? Have you picked up a book recently?
Yeah, the rumors segment is a good concept, but as you alluded to, Gary ruins it when he talks over a thought by Krueger, Eamon Sweeney, or Kate Scott. That's probably kind of why Kate gets on Gary sometimes and tells him to focus. It's kind of funny when Gary interrupts during the rumors segment, Kate feels bad for Eamon and basically tries to tell Eamon to go on to the next rumor. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually do away with the rumors segment though. Like I said, Gary doesn't take it seriously, and the delivery of it is lackluster. Plus, with the reputation.com bit, yeah Gary and Krueger joke around with it but, doesn't Gary seriously think Krueger is trying to forget about what happened in 2005? It's like, obviously he had a horrible reputation after being fired from KNBR in 2005. I'm sure he has a good/somewhat better reputation now, even though Krueger normally refers to it as "rather poor".
Totally agree.
Thanks Rich!
Another reason why I stopped listening to KNBR.